Systems and methods for imaging

Abstract

A method of imaging an organism includes introducing a composite nanoparticle into a circulating fluid of an organism to form a circulating fluid mixture in the organism is provided. The composite nanoparticle comprises a core comprising at least one of a contrast agent and a magnetic material, and at least one layer of biocompatible material surrounding the core. The method further includes receiving an image of at least a portion of the organism where the circulating fluid has circulated, removing at least a portion of the circulating fluid mixture from the organism at a first rate, applying a magnetic field to the removed portion of the circulating fluid mixture to selectively remove the composite nanoparticle from the circulating fluid mixture and to produce a filtered fluid mixture, and returning the filtered fluid mixture to the circulating fluid of the organism at a second rate.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 introducing a composite nanoparticle into a circulating fluid of an organism to form a circulating fluid mixture in the organism, the composite nanoparticle comprising:
 a core comprising at least one of a contrast agent and a magnetic material; and 
 at least one layer of biocompatible material surrounding the core; 
   receiving an image of at least a portion of the organism where the circulating fluid mixture has circulated;   removing at least a portion of the circulating fluid mixture from the organism at a first rate;   applying a magnetic field to the removed portion of the circulating fluid mixture to selectively remove the composite nanoparticle from the circulating fluid mixture and to produce a filtered fluid mixture; and   returning the filtered fluid mixture to the circulating fluid of the organism at a second rate.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the circulating fluid is blood. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the circulating fluid is cerebrospinal fluid. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the core of the composite nanoparticle is a magnetic material and the composite nanoparticle further comprises at least one layer of contrast agent in contact with the core and the at least one layer of biocompatible material. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising calculating at least one image analysis metric value of the image. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one image analysis metric value is an edge sharpness. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one image analysis metric value is a signal-to-noise ratio. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising adjusting at least one of the first rate and the second rate based on the calculated image analysis metric value. 
     
     
         9 . An imaging system comprising:
 a composite nanoparticle solution comprising composite nanoparticles;   an imaging device configured to display at least one image of a portion of an organism where the composite nanoparticle solution has circulated; and   a controller in communication with a source of the composite nanoparticle solution and the imaging device and configured to:
 receive a first image from the imaging device, 
 calculate at least one image analysis metric value from the first image; 
 compare the calculated at least one image analysis metric value to a threshold value; and 
 responsive to the comparison, adjust a rate of introduction of the composite nanoparticle solution to the organism. 
   
     
     
         10 . The imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one image analysis metric value includes at least one selected from the group consisting of: signal-to-noise ratio, edge sharpness, contrast, resolution, artifacts, entropy, and distortion. 
     
     
         11 . The imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein the composite nanoparticle includes a core comprising at least one of a contrast agent and a magnetic material and at least one layer of biocompatible material surrounding the core. 
     
     
         12 . The imaging system of  claim 11 , wherein the core of the composite nanoparticle is a magnetic material and the composite nanoparticle further comprises at least one layer of contrast agent disposed between the core and the at least one layer of biocompatible material. 
     
     
         13 . The imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein the controller is connected to at least one of a valve or a pump configured to introduce the composite nanoparticle solution to the organism. 
     
     
         14 . The imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein the controller is connected to at least one of a valve or a pump configured to withdraw a bodily fluid containing composite nanoparticles from the organism. 
     
     
         15 . The imaging system of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one of a valve or pump is fluidly connected to an inlet of a filtration device. 
     
     
         16 . The imaging system of  claim 15 , wherein an outlet of the filtration device is fluidly connected to the organism. 
     
     
         17 . The imaging system of  claim 5 , wherein the filtration device comprises at least one microfluidic device. 
     
     
         18 . The imaging system of  claim 15 , wherein the filtration device is configured to filter the composite nanoparticles and produce a filtered bodily fluid. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the filtration device is configured to magnetically filter the composite nanoparticles. 
     
     
         20 . The imaging system of  claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is a magnetic resonance imaging device. 
     
     
         21 . The imaging system of  claim 12 , wherein the imaging device is an X-ray computed tomography device. 
     
     
         22 . The imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein the imaging device comprises a camera. 
     
     
         23 . The imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein the controller is coupled to a memory and is further configured to store the first image and the at least one image analysis metric value in the memory. 
     
     
         24 . The imaging system of  claim 23 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
 receive at least one second image from the imaging device;   calculate at least one image analysis metric value from the second image; and   compare the at least one calculated image analysis metric value from the second image to the at least one calculated image analysis metric value from the first image.   
     
     
         25 . The imaging system of  claim 24 , wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the rate of introduction of the composite nanoparticle solution to the organism, responsive to the comparison of the at least one calculated image analysis metric values from the first and second images. 
     
     
         26 . The imaging system of  claim 9  wherein the controller is further configured to notify a user when the calculated image analysis metric value deviates from the threshold value. 
     
     
         27 . The imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein responsive to the comparison, the controller is further configured to adjust a rate of withdrawal of a bodily fluid comprising the composite nanoparticles from the organism. 
     
     
         28 . A method of facilitating an image of a portion of an organism, comprising:
 providing a composite nanoparticle;   providing an instruction for introducing the composite nanoparticles into the organism; and   providing an instruction for removing the composite nanoparticle from the organism.   
     
     
         29 . The method of facilitating of  claim 28 , further comprising providing an instruction for imaging a portion of the organism. 
     
     
         30 . The method of facilitating of  claim 28 , wherein providing an instruction for removing the composite nanoparticle from the organism further comprises instruction for filtering the composite nanoparticle to produce a filtered fluid, and returning the filtered fluid to the organism.